1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing broadcast services, more particularly to a method and apparatus that allows a user to access various services with a simple key input.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, the TV set was for a unidirectional service, providing the user with a limited function such as watching programs.
As a result of active research on digital standards in recent times, broadcast signals including video, audio, and data can now be compressed into digital signals, thus allowing multiple channels, and network processing capacity has also increased, allowing bidirectional broadcast services.
Currently, it is possible to access search services, cloud services, shopping services, SNS services, and chatting services using a TV set, and there is even a log-in function that enables customized services.
Although the TV set can thus be used to provide various services, it mainly uses a remote controller having a limited keypad, and as such, is still inconvenient to use.
When a user wishes to use a different service while watching television, the user may have to search through several levels for the required service. Thus, services other than viewing or recording certain live or on-demand programs may mostly remain unused.
To address this problem, Korean Patent Publication No. 2011-04182 (title of invention: METHOD FOR PROVIDING SNS ASSOCIATED WITH TELEVISION BROADCASTING AND APPARATUS THEREOF) proposes a method of accessing certain services using short-cut keys. However, since such methods of the related art only match one short-cut key with one service, an environment for providing various services as described above would require assigning multiple short-cut keys, and there is still room for improvement in terms of applicability.